Into Da See

"Ahhh, Mr. Hoshi?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are we going?"

I looked back at Akari who seemed to shrink a few inches and sighed

"We're going through Noodle country towards the coast"

Akari nodded and silence returned to our journey for another few minutes until

"Why are we going to the coast?"

I stopped and the girl seemed to nearly trip before backpedaling a few steps, making me let out another heavy sigh

"Because if I'm correct, a treasure is waiting off the coast of Wave country which is a little way up the coast we are walking towards"

She seemed to accept that and relaxed, allowing us to continue

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Mr. Hoshi?"

"Ok, legs just set up camp here for the night, hmm?"

Akari nodded, again, and we started setting up with the new supplies I bought

You maybe wondering how I got the cash? Yeah, I fought a few people. Why didn't I do that before? Too easy

Hell, I might be weak amongst the world of Ninja but if I were pitted against any regular civilian, I'd win easily

After a few fights, I raked in almost 75k Ryo. More than enough to buy some new clothes for Akari, a week's worth of food and some camping supplies

We ended up staying in that farming town for another week or so after I met Akari just so I could get the girl used to my behavior and for the reason above

Also for the noodles. Don't forget the noodles

"Tell me something about yourself Akari"

Why did I say that? Now she's on the verge of becoming a wreck…

"Oh..  uhm… ehh…"

"You don't have to of course! I mean just…."

"No.. it's fine.. What would you like to know?"

Really? Have I finally broken down that sh- No. No I have not. Not with that face

"Likes, dislikes, hobbies? That sort of thing?"

"Ah? Uhh, well… I like nature and plants… I also like pictures!"

Ok, that's the loudest I've ever heard her talk. Almost stage whisper level

"I dislike people who take advantage of others…"

Of course, that's obvious

"My main hobby is drawing and working on improving my handwriting…"

A budding seal master? Useful

I made sure to give her the gentlest smile I could so as not to startle her

"That's great. Might as well tell you a bit about myself, yeah?"

Her face was graced with a small smile

"Hnn, I'd like that~"

Damn that's cu- NO! I WILL NOT HAVE THE FBI AFTER ME! THINK MATURE KUSHINA! MATURE KUSHINA!!

"Well, I like to learn new things and experiment, along with my sister Sara and travelling… As for dislikes, I don't particularly like seafood or control freaks… My hobbies consist of writing stories and training my skills"

Akari's eyes immediately widened in surprise when I said training, obviously getting excited

"You're a ninja?!"

Oh God that's almost worse than young Sakura…

Almost

"Yeah, technically. I know how to use chakra at least"

The girl was in my face in less than a millisecond, eyes sparkling with Ill-concealed excitement

"Teach me"

At least I broke through her shell?

...Yeah that might have been a mistake

____________________________

On the bright side, running through the trees is much faster than walking!

"WOOOO!! YEAAHHHH!!"

On the dark side, it's now very loud wherever we go

"THIS. IS. AWESOME!!!"

Thank God the river way to wave wasn't too far away from where we were camping, maybe 20 miles or so. After I unlocked the girls chakra  (Holy shit she had a fuck ton even with that malnourished body), it only took us an hour and a half to reach the shore

I paid for a boat seeing as how water walking was wayyy too complex for me, let alone for Akari and crossed. Hell, I haven't even started on advanced tree walking yet…

While on the river/ocean way, we didn't end up seeing anything resembling a bridge, so I can solidly assume Gato hasn't murdered everyone yet. Honestly, that's been bugging me for the past eight years

Where are we in the timeline? I can now confidently say that Naruto is at least not a Genin yet

Good

We reached the shore, I thanked the bus driver, and we jumped off towards the town

"So we're going to a place called Nami? For a treasure?"

"Yeah, off the coast a little ways north! We're staying in the town for the night before we leave!"

Talking while jumping through tree branches is not very enjoyable - don't try it at home

It didn't take very long to reach the worn out little town of wave

'Yeah, It seems Gato hasn't stepped foot in here yet..'

Even though the town was obviously falling apart, the residents seemed content with their conditions. Honestly, I wish I could have seen this in the anime. People were smiling and bartering away vegetables and fish, kids were off playing in the dirt roads

It was kinda heartwarming

'Too bad Gato is going to come along…'

To be completely honest, I debated with myself whether or not I should let the guy take over wave or not. On one hand, I could save the country early and prevent everyone from suffering

But on the other hand, if I do that, I'll effectively be stunting Naruto's growth. No Gato means no Zabuza and Haku which also means no Ninja Way and protecting friends mentality which also means no first time using Kurama's chakra..

Yeah, that settles it, I'll wait for now. The kid needs every little bit of help he can get and if I take away his first use of the Biju chakra, Jiraiya might not be called back and Konoha Crush might actually succeed

Don't really want that to happen…

So, in relation to that, if Gato is here when we return from where we are going, I'll only rob half of his fortune…

"Yeah, that sounds good"

"What sounds good?" Both Akari and the lady at the front desk of this hotel asked at the same time

I scratched my head

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Sure did, now what sounds good?"

"Ah, just talking to myself, here you go!" I grabbed Akari after leaving some ryo for the night on the counter and ran up the stairs

The lady looked confused but sighed and took the ryo

"Damn children…"

____________________________

It took almost 4 hours to find someone willing enough to help us traverse to where we were heading and even still just had to pay him more than half of the money to my name

'Yeah, totally going to rob shortstack when we get back, at wave or not…'

"Whirlpools comin' up 'head! Watch 'erselves!"

Damn you bus driver! You gave away the surprise! Ah, well. At least Akari is still blind

Yeah, we're going to Uzushiogakure. Home of the Uzumaki. At least the ruins of what was once their home. Clan was almost wiped out

I guess I should get this out of the way real quick. Mini History lesson! The Uzumaki were a clan renowned for three things - Their red hair, chakra capacity, and sealing prowess. Four if you count their love for ramen, but I don't know if that's true and if it is I don't feel like bleeding myself dry using Akari as a test subject…

Anyways, the clan was so good at the art of sealing, eventually three nations had to band up together to even have a chance of wiping them out and even still, the armies of Kumo (Cloud), Iwa  (Stone), and Kiri (Water) were severely wiped out afterwards. A force of almost 300k soldiers stormed the island village of maybe 15k active shinobi with the advantage of surprise and still lost almost 250k total shinobi

Honestly, I still think that's the only reason Konoha even had a chance at winning the second war

So anyways, I rest my case that the Uzumaki are the definition of badasses

And we are visiting their home! I'm actually squirming with giddiness right now. Akari this staring at me like I'm crazy but screw her, I don't care

*WSHHHH*

*SLSHHHH*

Oh jeez, the whirlpools are kicking up now. I can feel the boat start to shake up and bob aggressively

I looked out into the ocean and saw the sheer number of whirlpools that were just lying in wait for whatever poor soul stupid enough to try and make try journey through them

Actually, just tried counting them and lost count after 134. That wasn't even 10%..

"Don' ye worry back there, lil' ones! I know this route li' the back of me 'and!"

And sure enough, the old guy did. As soon as the shaking started, it stopped and we were sailing into the ruins

...Can I just say, I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life?

Legit, I squealed